Stacks of donations make cookbook drive a success

Arts and Entertainment Reporter

On Friday afternoon, media specialists and volunteers carried in stacks and stacks of cookbooks into the Clarke Central High School Library. Part of a donation drive held throughout August, the books began to tower over their movers.

“It was totally surprising,” said Mary Songster, the mother of two Clarke Central students who organized the cookbook donation drive.

Songster, who had held all the donations at her home until about a week ago, said she stopped counting incoming books after 250. She estimates the count now to be well over 500, and that’s not counting magazines, pamphlets and community cookbooks.

The idea of a cookbook drive came to Songster after noticing a lack of cookbooks and food-related titles in the library.

“We want kids to be healthy,” Songster said. “But because of the financial side of things, it’s been pulled out of high schools.”

But thanks to the kindness of neighbors, a bookstore, local restaurants and two publishing houses, the library’s shelves will be so filled with cookbooks on regional and international cuisines that they’ll be able to send excess cookbooks over to Cedar Shoals High School.

Donation boxes at Farm 255 and Five and Ten accumulated many titles. The University of Georgia Press donated some of their food-related books, adding an element of food literature by including the “Cornbread Nation” series. Via Avid Bookshop, Random House Publishing donated a number of cookbooks, including titles from Julia Child’s “The Way to Cook.”

The next step, Songster said, is figuring out a way to display the books to entice students. She also mentioned bringing in local culinary professionals to drum up excitement.

Student interest in cookbooks “comes and goes in phases,” said Clarke Central media specialist Lindy Weaver. When the library was renovated a few years back, librarians “weeded” out little-read titles based on circulation statistics, Weaver said, which explains the lack of cookbooks Songster discovered.

But with a new curriculum — International Baccalaureate — that looks to the world for educational inspiration, Weaver said cookbooks covering world cuisine will be an needed teaching tool.

“What better way to learn about another culture,” she said.

As Weaver and fellow media specialist Kacy Tedder looked over the new additions to the library’s collection, they couldn’t help but feel daunted.

“It is a bit overwhelming,” Weaver said. “But we love books. It’s what we do. It might take a little while, but it’s worth it.”

• André Gallant is the arts and entertainment reporter for the Athens Banner-Herald. Follow him on Twitter: @andregallant. Find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GallantABH.